Public Historians’ Duty: Agitators, Scholars, Social Justice Warriors?

Abstract

This article examines the intersections between memory activism, academia, and public history through the case of the Traveling Museum of Memory and Identity of Montes de María, known as El Mochuelo, in the Colombian Caribbean. The museum, a peripatetic and community-driven initiative, travels across 15 municipalities affected by decades of armed conflict, using interactive and largely non-material displays rooted in oral traditions and cultural practices. Drawing on long-term engagement with the project, the article argues that El Mochuelo exemplifies how collaboration among activists, scholars, and local communities can produce meaningful and situated understandings of the past. Rather than treating research and activism as opposing domains, the case demonstrates their productive convergence, highlighting shared ethical and political commitments. Situated within broader debates on memory activism and decolonial museology, the article shows how grassroots initiatives challenge official narratives, foreground marginalized voices, and contribute to processes of symbolic reparation and community rebuilding. By emphasizing creativity, resistance, and interdisciplinarity, El Mochuelo reveals the potential of public history as a flexible and engaged practice that bridges academic inquiry and social justice work, ultimately questioning the possibility of neutrality in contexts marked by violence and historical injustice.